“When I was a schoolboy,' says Dalton, 'I made gifts for my friends, carving out their names on pencils. Later, I decided to try sculpture, and after a long search the choice fell on a pencil lead.” Dalton uses blades, sewing needles and special knives for the sculptures. However, the material is extremely fragile and there are many mistakes: at home Mr. Getty has more than 100 unfinished or broken sculptures. “At first I had a few broken figures, later I decided to keep them all in memory. I call this my “cemetery collection”: they are all dear to me, because I spent a few months alone with them.”

The artist could spend many months working on one sculpture. For the creation miniature alphabet Dalton spent 2.5 years. “My patience is simply amazing to people, because nowadays everyone wants to be quicker, faster and faster.”